Learned context correlation through network communication observations

Abstract

Establishing a correlation between a user's context and wireless signal observations from that context enables wireless computing devices to provide users with targeted information. Rather than performing an expensive calibration, mobile sensor data indicative of a user's context is bundled with wireless signal observations and transmitted to server computing devices that can obtain a context from the mobile sensor data, correlate that to the wireless signal observations, and store the same in a context/wireless correlations database. When other wireless computing devices request a context based on wireless signal observations made by those wireless computing devices, reference can be made to the database and a context correlated to those wireless signal observations is obtained and provided to them, enabling targeted information to be delivered to their users. To accommodate heterogeneity among wireless computing devices the database maintains correlations according to the wireless computing devices from which the data originated.

1 . One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for correlating wireless signal observations to corresponding contexts, the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising:
 acquiring mobile sensor data comprising indicia of a context of a user, including the user's location;   acquiring, contemporaneously with the acquiring the mobile sensor data, wireless signal observations comprising a wireless signal strength from a wireless access point; and   transmitting the acquired mobile sensor data and the acquired wireless signal observations to a context/wireless correlation engine.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for acquiring the mobile sensor data comprise computer-executable instructions for scanning a bar code of a product sold in a retail environment. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for acquiring the mobile sensor data comprise computer-executable instructions for accepting manual user input. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the indicia of the context of the user further comprises policies of a retail environment within which is the user's location. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless signal observations further comprise at least one of: a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) of the wireless access point, a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of the wireless access point, a wireless network type provided by the wireless access point, a channel on which a wireless communicational connection is established with the wireless access point, and timing information about the wireless communication connection. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , comprising further computer-executable instructions for: acquiring other wireless signal observations independently of any acquiring of mobile sensor data; transmitting the other acquired wireless signal observations to a context/wireless resolution engine; and requesting, from the context/wireless resolution engine, a context correlated to the other wireless signal observations. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable media of  claim 6 , comprising further computer-executable instructions for: receiving the context correlated to the other wireless signal observations from the context/wireless resolution engine in response to the requesting; and displaying, to the user, targeted information, selected based on the context correlated to the other wireless signal observations, the targeted information comprising at least one of: an advertisement and a coupon. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable media of  claim 7 , comprising further computer-executable instructions for: additional requesting, from the context/wireless resolution engine, the targeted information. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable media of  claim 7 , comprising further computer-executable instructions for: selecting the targeted information based on the context correlated to the other wireless signal observations received from the context/wireless resolution engine. 
     
     
         10 . One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for correlating wireless signal observations to corresponding contexts, the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising:
 receiving, from a first wireless computing device, mobile sensor data acquired by the first wireless computing device and wireless signal observations acquired by the first wireless computing device contemporaneously with the acquiring of the mobile sensor data;   obtaining a context that the mobile sensor data is indicative of;   generating a correlation between the context and the wireless signal observations; and   storing the generated correlation in a context/wireless correlation database.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-readable media of  claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for storing the generated correlation comprise computer-executable instructions for storing the generated correlation in the context/wireless correlation database according to a model of the first wireless computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable media of  claim 11 , comprising further computer-executable instructions implementing a correlation maintenance engine that can edit stored correlations in the context/wireless correlation database. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable media of  claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for obtaining the context comprise computer-executable instructions for referencing a context information database to: identify a product associated with the mobile sensor data, identify a retail environment associated with the wireless signal observations, and identify a location of the identified product in the identified retail environment. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable media of  claim 13 , comprising further computer-executable instructions implementing a context maintenance engine, accessible by multiple independent parties through a web page interface, that can edit contextual information in the context information database. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable media of  claim 9 , comprising further computer-executable instructions for: receiving, from a second wireless computing device, a request for a second context correlated to second wireless signal observations acquired by the second wireless computing device; receiving, from the second wireless computing device, the second wireless signal observations; referencing correlations stored in the context/wireless correlation database to identify the second context correlated to the second wireless signal observations; and providing the identified second context to the second wireless computing device in response to the request. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for referencing the correlations comprise computer-executable instructions for: first referencing correlations stored in the context/wireless correlation database that are based on a same device model as the second wireless computing device; and weighting other correlations stored in the context/wireless correlation database that are based on a different device model from the second wireless computing device if there are an insufficient number of the correlations stored in the context/wireless correlation database that are based on the same device model as the second wireless computing device. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions for referencing the correlations comprise computer-executable instructions for weighting correlations stored in the context/wireless correlation database based on an age of those correlations. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15 , comprising further computer-executable instructions for: receiving, from the second wireless computing device, a request for targeted information associated with the second context; referencing a context information database to identify the targeted information associated with the second context; and providing the identified targeted information to the second wireless computing device in response to the request for the targeted information. 
     
     
         19 . An advertising system providing targeted information to users based on their current context, the system comprising:
 an application program for execution on a wireless computing device, the application program comprising computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising: acquiring mobile sensor data comprising indicia of a context of a user of the wireless computing device, including the user's location; acquiring, contemporaneously with the acquiring the mobile sensor data, wireless signal observations comprising a wireless signal strength, from a wireless access point, as received by the wireless computing device; and transmitting the acquired mobile sensor data and the acquired wireless signal observations; and   one or more server computing devices comprising one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising: receiving, from the application program executing on the wireless computing device, the acquired mobile sensor data and the acquired wireless signal observations; obtaining a context that the received mobile sensor data is indicative of; generating a correlation between the context and the received wireless signal observations; and storing the generated correlation in a context/wireless correlation database.   
     
     
         20 . The advertising system of  claim 19 , wherein the application program further comprises computer-executable instructions for: acquiring other wireless signal observations independently of any acquiring of mobile sensor data; transmitting the other acquired wireless signal observations; and requesting a context correlated to the other wireless signal observations; and wherein further the one or more server computing devices comprise further computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for: receiving, from the application program, the request for the context correlated to the other wireless signal observations; receiving, from the application program, the other wireless signal observations; referencing correlations stored in the context/wireless correlation database to identify the context correlated to the other wireless signal observations; and providing the identified context correlated to the other wireless signal observations to the application program in response to the request.